Sunday, July 28, 2024
7:00 PM
This program, focusing on the wide variety and rich tapestry of 20th century music, explores themes of spirituality and liberation, blending American sounds and European traditions much as Koussevitzky did during his life.
In a reflection of Koussevitzky’s commitment to new music, Thomas Warfield is the narrator in James Lee III’s Freedom’s Genuine Dawn, a piece based on the great Fredrick Douglas text “What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?”. Paul Lewis is the soloist in the Piano Concerto by Aaron Copland, whom Koussevitzky brought to the Berkshires to launch what’s now the Tanglewood Music Center, one of the world’s premiere academies for early-stage professional musicians, and for which Randall Thompson wrote his Alleluia, still sung at the TMC to begin of every summer. And the Tanglewood Festival Chorus also sings one of Koussevitzky’s most significant commissions, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms.
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Paul Lewis, piano
Thomas Warfield, narrator
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
James Burton, conductor
James LEE III Freedom’s Genuine Dawn
Aaron COPLAND Piano Concerto
Randall THOMPSON Alleluia
Igor STRAVINSKY Symphony of Psalms
This concert is no longer available on demand.
Read the entire text of "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" from PBS and learn more about the speech from the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Hear composer James Lee III describe the genesis of Freedom's Genuine Dawn with the audio player above, and follow the transcript below.
TRANSCRIPT:
Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath from WCRB with James Lee III who is back in Boston for the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the second time. James, thanks for your time today. I appreciate it.
James Lee III Oh it's good to be here. You're welcome. Thank you.
Brian McCreath "Freedom’s Genuine Dawn," a piece that was commissioned—well, it started with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, but now also co-commissioned by the Boston Symphony and I believe the Rochester Philharmonic. And I'm curious about the origin of the commission itself and whether there was a sort of specific kind of piece you were asked to write or whether this was one of those opportunities to sort of do whatever you want.
James Lee III Sure. Well actually, I was asked to write a piece specifically using this text by Frederick Douglass, and the administrator for artistic planning in Baltimore at the time thought it would be nice to have something that would be kind of a companion piece or similar or reminiscent of the Copland, "Lincoln's Portrait." And that's why, particularly in the last part of the work, actually, it kind of hinted to a prominent rhythmic figure from the piece by Copeland "Lincoln's Portrait" in the brass especially.
Brian McCreath Right, right. Okay so that's really interesting that this was so specific, what you were being asked to do. And so this piece of Frederick Douglass that we're talking about, a speech that he made, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July," I think that's the right title...
James Lee III That's right. Mm-hmm.
Brian McCreath And what was your level of familiarity with that particular text already when this topic came up, when you were asked to write this piece?
James Lee III You know, I hadn't really read the speech before and actually is a quite lengthy speech.
Brian McCreath It's very long. Exactly.
James Lee III It is. So when I was collaborating with Wordsmith, who is one of the artistic collaborators there at the Baltimore Symphony, he and I read through the speech and then have to kind of adapt and figure out which parts we want to include in the work. So I actually spent some time one afternoon and read through the entire speech, and then I kind of thought about certain aspects and how I could enhance it with the orchestra, especially writing some kind of cadences in terms of the cadence of his speaking itself. And I listened to a couple of people, but there was one—I forgot his name. I think his first name was Oscar, an African American actor. I forget his last name—but he was very convincing in his delivery of the speech. So that helped me in terms of my own inspiration for composing this work.
Brian McCreath Tell me about your initial reaction, because the text is unflinching and especially what you and Wordsmith consolidated for this piece of music, it is difficult language, difficult to hear. I wonder what your initial reaction was to encountering this text.
James Lee III Sure. That's interesting, because [in] my own output of my own compositions, that was not necessarily a subject matter that I pursued necessarily. But when asked to write this—and it came at a time when there were certain other commissions and organizations commissioning similar type pieces—at first I was kind of taken aback from it. I wasn't sure if I really wanted to pursue this. But then I listened to the narration of this and thought about it a little bit more, and then I began to embrace it a little bit more because I could see that, even though there are some difficult text there and difficult aspects of the tragedy in Frederick Douglass's own life and his experience there in Baltimore, that he really was very hopeful near the end of the piece. So with all that he said, he's encouraging, like, he wanted to reaffirm his love for the United States and his real hope. And of course we know, historically, he really wished and kind of prodded President Lincoln to do a little bit more.
So that's why I ended up considering more how I might make this work powerful, but then yet very warm when it needs to be, and being true to what he wrote in his text. And then really myself, looking forward to a hope where people would really... as the text says, "Freedom's Genuine Dawn," the idea of being really genuine about how you would react to one another and be, not hypocritical, but really... What your words and what you have print and what you actually say is really what you mean and what you intend to act upon.
Brian McCreath That's really fascinating because to hear you describe what this piece is, and for those listeners who haven't yet encountered this piece, it is, as I say, unflinching in its indictment of America and yet also hopeful in the original vision of America that those who were slaves at that time would enjoy their freedom. To Frederick Douglass, that would be, I think, hopefully imminent in his lifetime. For whatever the last, you know, 150 years has proven to be otherwise, it still is his inspirational message. And it makes me think of the music you wrote to go with this narration. Correct me if I'm wrong or if there if this wasn't intended, but there are times when I hear it and the words themselves may be difficult to absorb and, as I say, a harsh indictment. And yet the music, even in those moments, has this essence of hope about it. Was that more or less intentional?
James Lee III I think probably part of my intention in terms of with my musical language was to provide some kind of counterpoint to the text. But then at the same time really working the orchestra or writing for the orchestra in such a way that the density really comes through in terms of the difficult moments of what he's actually talking about. So that there'd be these large moments of dissonance that really, really call for some sort of resolution. And then when you hear that resolution, then it's all the more pleasurable and gratifying when it actually comes. But then there's so many times where you might think it's resolved, but then the language kind of changes again until the very end. Even the very end of the piece, it still leaves a question mark after the ascent of those [notes] F, G, D: freedom's, genuine, dawn. There's still a question mark at the end of that.
Brian McCreath Yeah, yeah. Which I think has to be appropriate for the life of Frederick Douglass, that it wasn't resolved at all by the time of his lifetime being over, but there's still hope. Now, this is not the first time you've written for orchestra and narrator. You've written for spoken text before, and tell me about what that means for you as a composer in terms of what musical language are you going to go into when you do that, as opposed to maybe when you're writing a piece that's meant to be sung? What does a composer do this particular to a text-based piece with narration?
James Lee III Sure. Well, when approaching such a work, I'm thinking a lot about pacing and moments of, like, the space and the actual sound. And there are some challenging moments where we really would have to work on the balance to make sure that the text is really heard. But when working or composing for voice, if it's a sung piece like a song, typically my language is a lot more tame. Like, I am a tonal composer, but I'm not really functional harmony, it's not always sweet smelling [Lee III laughs] in terms of what's written, but there are moments where I have tonal centers and it's still very chromatic. And when I'm working with songs or voice that are sung, it's typically a lot more relaxed in terms of what I'm doing. But this is easier because what we really need to consider is the entrances and the exits of the actual text. So when the orchestra is playing, I'm still treating it very much as an orchestral piece or something that I would write if it were an orchestral suite. But then now I just have to really think about the clarity in the text and when the entrances are there and how how much I need to work on balance and really having a kind of transparency in the orchestration.
Brian McCreath Sure, yeah. Now, you mentioned your collaborator, Wordsmith. Is the term correct to say a spoken word artist?
James Lee III He is, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Brian McCreath So tell me about that collaboration and what his role was when this project began and how that carried through to what we're going to hear now in this weekend.
James Lee III Sure. So Wordsmith—I think he's still there at the Baltimore Symphony. I haven't see him. I'm going to be Composer in Residence there next year so I'm not sure... [Lee III chuckles]
Brian McCreath Oh great!
James Lee III ... exactly, who's there in terms of the artistic parts of their relationship with the orchestra. But when I worked with him, as I said before, we would talk on Zoom conversations, Zoom calls, and go through the text. And then he actually would write adaptations on, like, a narration on the narration. So he would introduce the piece. For example, the work begins with Wordsmith's text in terms of the life and kind of introducing what the work would be about. And then of course, after the narration has completed some of the Frederick Douglass texts, then of course, then Wordsmith returns with his own text, kind of giving some insight into what we were just hearing.
Brian McCreath Yeah, yeah. Okay. Now, this is not the world premiere. The piece has been performed before, and so that gives me the chance to ask you, what have you heard in reaction to this piece, especially from [the] audience, but also maybe musicians? I mean, what is the feedback you've gotten to people who've experienced this piece before?
James Lee III Sure. Well, the orchestra, the orchestral members and conductors usually thank me for the piece for the pure musical side of it. I think it's always very gratifying for me as a composer if those who are performing can really appreciate what you have done and really kind of comment on or positively comment on the architecture of the piece, the actual technical aspects, and the musicality of what's happening.
But I was always concerned, especially the first time at the world premiere in Baltimore, "How would this be received?" And some audience members, you know, they told me, "Thank you, we needed to hear that," you know, "Thank you very much." They really enjoyed the message. I thought I might get a few hisses, [Lee III laughs] not because of the music itself, but because, I tell you, I mean, I'm thinking it's not my text. I set the text, but I'm always going to say, even here in Boston, I'm concerned just a little bit on how it might be received because this is, like what we talked about before, this text is really on the verge. I mean, all the indictments that we hear, one may not want to be prepared to hear that. But that's why near the end of the piece, I really worked on shaping these elements of light and hope, this kind of brilliance that really will pierce through to give us some sort of consolation, some sort of idea of hope and peace.
Brian McCreath Yeah. Well, and for whatever reactions that may have come from this difficult topic, difficult language, I think maybe my own way of looking at that is that that just reinforces the fact that it's important to do that. This message is so important still, I suppose.
James Lee III Yes, definitely.
Brian McCreath Yeah. James Lee III, it's so good to have you back in Boston. I remember the last piece that the BSO did a few years ago of yours and what a great event that was. I'm looking forward to this one as well. Thanks for your time today.
James Lee III Yeah, thank you. It's always good to come back here.